Editorial: Caltech, U.S. experts work on quake warning system, and state should help fund the effort

Like death and taxes, California earthquakes are not going away. But just because they aren't preventable doesn't mean we shouldn't be as prepared as possible by having a few seconds warning when they are about to hit.

Unlike other quake-prone regions -- Japan, Mexico, Romania, for goodness' sake -- California has never had a fully developed system that gives an alert when there is a major seismic event.

But Caltech and the United States Geological Survey, both based in Pasadena, and University of California, Berkeley, seismologists have long been working on putting together a network of sensors that could give the public some time to get out of harm's way in the event of a major earthquake.

The system would send warnings in the form of text messages, crawls on television screens and radio alerts. When a massive earthquake hit Japan in 2011, about 50 million cellphone users got text-message warnings within seconds.

This week, a group of California geophysicists announced plans to complete that system, and state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, says he will author legislation aimed at funding it.

Skeptics will pounce on the latter suggestion right away. Fund a major state project just as we've got our budget balanced? That's crazy talk, they will say.

There are two reasons it isn't crazy.

First, the estimated price tag of $80 million is not the size of a major boondoggle, especially considering how much money and lives it could save in California. This isn't the beginning of a new project with unknown possible change orders, either; many of the sensors are already in place, in the ground. The money would not be spent all at once but rather over time as the system is completed.

Second, as Padilla noted on Tuesday, his legislation would not be seeking anything like the entire $80 million from general-fund coffers. Rather, he would like to explore getting money from federal grants, from public-private partnerships and from special state funds set aside for such purposes. That includes the state Public Utilities Commission, which has a clear interest in protecting everything from nuclear power plants to the flow of water through California's aqueducts.

Skeptics will also ask: What's the advantage of knowing what we can't do anything to stop?

And the answer to that one is easy. Train engineers given early warning can come to a halt, greatly lessening the danger of derailing. Operating-room surgeons can put down the scalpel and protect staff and patients. Freeway drivers warned by the system of electronic signs Metro and Caltrans have installed can stay clear of overpasses and pull over to the side of the road.

Those at work or at home could use the warning time of anywhere from just a few seconds to a minute to either get under a protective desk or go outside to open spaces where there is less danger from falling objects.

There is no perfect answer to the danger posed to our society by earthquakes. When the Big One strikes, there will be billions of dollars in property damage, and there will be lives lost. But to not take this practical, cost-efficient step toward finishing a protective system for California that is already under way would be foolish.

It's unclear who exactly would even operate it. "Caltech's in the driver's seat now," Padilla says. "University-backed? A state government umbrella? I'll defer to the experts."

But rational Californians will agree with Padilla's bottom line: "I don't want to be sitting at home after the Big One and say, 'Why didn't we?' "